Among the Pines Part 26

CHAPTER X.

THE NEGRO FUNERAL.

It was about an hour after nightfall when we took our way to the burial-ground. The moon had risen, but the clouds which gathered when the sun went down, covered its face, and were fast spreading their thick, black shadows over the little collection of negro-houses. Near two new-made graves were gathered some two hundred men and women, as dark as the night that was setting around them. As we entered the circle the old preacher pointed to seats reserved for us, and the sable crowd fell back a few paces, as if, even in the presence of death, they did not forget the difference between their race and ours.

Scattered here and there among the trees, torches of lightwood threw a wild and fitful light over the little cl.u.s.ter of graves, revealing the long, straight boxes of rough pine that held the remains of the two negroes, and lighting up the score or two of russet mounds where slept the dusky kinsmen who had gone before them.

The simple head-boards that marked these humble graves chronicled no bad biography or senseless rhyme, and told no false tales of lives that might better not have been, but "SAM, AGE 22;" "JAKE'S ELIZA;" "AUNT SUE;" "AUNT LUCY'S TOM;" "JOE;" and other like inscriptions, scratched in rough characters on the unplaned boards, were all the records there. The rude tenants had pa.s.sed away and "left no sign;" their birth, their age, their deeds, were alike unknown--unknown, but not forgotten! for are they not written in the book of His remembrance--and when he counteth up his jewels, may not some of them be there?

The queer, grotesque dress, and sad, earnest looks of the black group; the red, fitful glare of the blazing pine, and the white faces of the tapped trees, gleaming through the gloom like so many sheeted ghosts gathered to some death-carnival, made up a strange, wild scene--the strangest and the wildest I had ever witnessed.

The covers of the rude coffins were not yet nailed down, and when we arrived, the blacks were, one by one, taking a last look at the faces of the dead. Soon, Junius, holding his weeping wife by the hand, approached the smaller of the two boxes, which held all that was left of their first-born. The mother, kneeling by its side, kissed again and again the cold, shrunken lips, and sobbed as if her heart would break; and the strong frame of the father shook convulsively, as he choked down the great sorrow which welled up in his throat, and turned away from his boy forever. As he did so, old Pompey said:

"Don't grebe, June, he'm whar de wicked cease from trubling, whar de weary am at rest."

"I knows it; I knows it, Uncle. I knows de Lord am bery good to take 'im 'way; but why did he take de young chile, and leab de ole man har?"

"De little sapling dat grow in de shade may die while it'm young; de great tree dat grow in de sun must lib till he'm rotted down."

These words were the one drop wanting to make the great grief which was swelling in the negro's heart overflow. Giving one low, wild cry, he folded his wife in his arms, and burst into a paroxysm of tears.

"Come now, my chil'ren," said the old preacher, kneeling down, "let us pray."

The whole a.s.semblage then knelt on the cold ground, while the old man prayed, and a more sincere, heart-touching prayer never went up from human lips to that G.o.d "who hath made of one blood all nations that dwell on the face of the earth." Though clothed in rags, and in feeble age at the mercy of a cruel taskmaster, that old slave was richer far than his master. His simple faith, which saw through the darkness around him into the clear and radiant light of the unseen day, was of far more worth than all the wealth and glory of this world. I know not why it was, but as I looked at him in the dim red light, which fell on his bent form and cast a strange halo around his upturned face, I thought of Stephen, as he gazed upward and behold heaven open, and "the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the throne of G.o.d."

Rising from his knees, the old preacher turned slowly to the black ma.s.s that encircled him, and said:

"My dear brederin and sisters, de Lord say dat 'de dust s.h.i.+ll return to de earth as it war, and de spirit to Him who gabe it,' and now, 'cordin'

to dat text, my friends, we'm gwine to put dis dust (pointing to the two coffins) in de groun' whar it c.u.m from, and whar it s.h.i.+ll lay till de bressed Lord blow de great trumpet on de resumrection mornin'. De spirits of our brudders har de Lord hub already took to hisseff. 'Our brudders,' I say, my chil'ren, 'case ebery one dat de Lord hab made am brudders to you and to me, whedder dey'm bad or good, white or brack.

"Dis young chile, who hab gone 'way and leff his pore fader and mudder suffrin' all ober wid grief, _he_ hab gone to de Lord, _sh.o.r.e_. _He_ neber done no wrong; he allers 'bey'd his ma.s.sa, and neber said no hard word, nor found no fault, not eben w'en de cruel, bad oberseer put de load so heaby on him dat it kill him. Yes, my brederin and sisters, _he_ hab gone to de Lord; gone whar dey don't work in de swamps; whar de little chil'ren don't tote de big s.h.i.+ngles fru de water up to dar knees.

No swamps am dar; no s.h.i.+ngles am dar; dey doan't need 'em, 'case dar de hous'n haint builded wid hands, for dey'm all builded by de Lord, and gib'n to de good n.i.g.g.e.rs, ready-made, and for nuffin'. De Lord don't say, like as ded ma.s.sa say, 'Pomp, dar's de logs and de s.h.i.+ngles' (dey'm allers pore s.h.i.+ngles, de kine dat woant sell; but ma.s.sa say, 'dey'm good 'nuff for n.i.g.g.e.rs,' ef de roof do leak). De Lord doan't say: 'Now, Pomp, you go to work and build you' own house; but mine dat you does you, task all de time, jess de same!' But de Lord--de bressed Lord--He say, w'en we goes up dar, 'Dar, Pomp, dar's de house dat I'se been a buildin'

for you eber sence 'de foundation ob de worle.' It'm done now, and you kin c.u.m in; your room am jess ready, and ole Sal and de chil'ren dat I tuk 'way from you eber so long ago, and dat you mourned ober and cried ober as ef you'd neber see dem agin, dey'm dar too, all on 'em, a waitin' for you. Dey'm been fixin' up de house 'spressly for you all dese long years, and dey'b got it all nice and comfible now.' Yas, my friends, glory be to Him, dat's what our Heabenly ma.s.sa say, and who ob you wouldn't hab sich a ma.s.sa as dat? A ma.s.sa dat doan't set you no hard tasks, and dat gibs you 'nuff to eat, and time to rest and to sing and to play! A ma.s.sa dat doan't keep no Yankee oberseer to foller you 'bout wid de big free-lashed whip; but dat leads you hisseff to de green pastures and de still waters; and w'en you'm a-faint and a-tired, and can't go no furder, dat takes you up in his arms, and carries you in his bosom! What pore darky am dar dat wudn't hab sich a ma.s.sa? What one ob us, eben ef he had to work jess so hard as we works now, wudn't tink heseff de happiest n.i.g.g.e.r in de hull worle, ef he could hab sich hous'n to lib in as dem? dem hous'n 'not made wid hands, eternal in de heabens!'

"But glory, glory to de Lord! my chil'ren, wese all got dat ma.s.sa, ef we only knowd it, and He'm buildin' dem hous'n up dar, now, for ebery one ob us dat am tryin' to be good and to lub one anoder. _For ebery one ob us_, I say, and we kin all git de fine hous'n ef we try.

"Recolember, too, my brudders, dat our great Ma.s.sa am rich, bery rich, and he kin do all he promise. _He_ doant say, w'en wese worked ober time to git some little ting to comfort de sick chile, 'I knows, Pomp, you'se done de work, an' I did 'gree to gib you de pay; but de fact am, Pomp, de frost hab come so sudden dis yar, dat I'se loss de hull ob de sebenfh dippin', and I'se pore, so pore, de chile muss go widout dis time.' No, no, brudders, de bressed Lord He neber talk so. He neber break, 'case de sebenfh dip am shet off, or 'case de price of turpentime gwo down at de Norf. He neber sell his n.i.g.g.e.rs down Souf, 'case he lose his money on he hoss-race. No, my chil'ren, our HEABENLY Ma.s.sa am rich, RICH, I say. He own all dis worle, and all de oder worles dat am s.h.i.+nin' up dar in de sky. He own dem all; but he tink more ob one ob you, more ob one ob you--pore, ign'rant brack folks dat you am--dan ob all dem great worles!

Who wouldn't belong to sich a Ma.s.sa as dat? Who wouldn't be his n.i.g.g.e.r--not his slave--He doant hab no slaves--but his chile; and 'ef his chile, den his heir, de heir ob G.o.d, and de jined heir wid de bressed Jesus.' O my chil'ren! tink of dat! de heir ob de Lord ob all de 'arth and all de sky! What white man kin be more'n dat?

"Don't none ob you say you'm too wicked to be His chile; 'ca'se you haint. He lubs de wicked ones de best, 'ca'se dey need his lub de most.

Yas, my brudders, eben de wickedest, ef dey's only sorry, and turn roun'

and leab off dar bad ways, he lub de bery best ob all, 'ca'se he'm all lub and pity.

"Sam, har, my chil'ren, war wicked, but don't _we_ pity him; don't _we_ tink he hab a hard time, and don't we tink de bad oberseer, who'm layin'

dar in de house jess ready to gwo and answer for it--don't we tink he gabe Sam bery great probincation?

"Dat's so," said a dozen of the auditors.

"Den don't you 'spose dat de bressed Lord know all dat, and dat He pity Sam too. If we pore sinners feel sorrer for him, haint de Lord's heart bigger'n our'n, and haint he more sorrer for him? Don't you tink dat ef He lub and pity de bery worse whites, dat He lub and pity pore Sam, who warn't so bery bad, arter all? Don't you tink He'll gib Sam a house?

P'r'aps' 'twont be one ob de fine hous'n, but wont it be a comfible house, dat hain't no cracks, and one dat'll keep out de wind and de rain? And don't you s'pose, my chil'ren, dat it'll be big 'nuff for Jule, too--dat pore, repentin' chile, whose heart am clean broke, 'ca'se she hab broughten dis on Sam--and won't de Lord--de good Lord--de tender-hearted Lord--won't He touch Sam's heart, and coax him to forgib Jule, and to take her inter his house up dar? I knows he will, my chil'ren. I knows----"

The old negro paused abruptly; there was a quick swaying in the black crowd--a hasty rush--a wild cry--and Sam's wife burst into the open s.p.a.ce around the preacher, and fell at his feet. Throwing her arms wildly about him, she shrieked out:

"Say dat agin, Uncle Pomp! for de lub ob de good Lord, oh! say dat agin!"

Bending down, the old man raised her gently in his arms, and folding her there, as he would have folded a child, he said, in a voice thick with emotion:

"It am so, Juley. I knows dat Sam will forgib you, and take you wid him up dar."

Fastening her arms frantically around Pompey's neck, the poor woman burst into a paroxysm of grief, while the old man's tears fell in great drops on her upturned face, and many a dark cheek was wet, as with rain.

The scene had lasted a few minutes, and I was turning away to hide the emotion that fast filled my eyes, and was creeping up, with a choking feeling, to my throat, when the Colonel, from the farther edge of the group, called out:

"Take that d---- d---- away--take her away, Pomp!"

The old negro turned toward his master with a sad, grieved look, but gave no heed to the words.

"Take her away, some of you, I say," again cried the Colonel. "Pomp, you mustn't keep these n.i.g.g.e.rs all night in the cold."

At the sound of her master's voice the metif woman fell to the ground as if struck by a Minie-ball. Soon several negroes lifted her up to bear her off; but she struggled violently, and rent the woods with her wild cries for "one more look at Sam."

"Look at him, you d---- d----; then go, and don't let me see you again."

She threw herself on the face of the dead, and covered the cold lips with her kisses; then she rose, and with a weak, uncertain step, staggered out into the darkness.

Was not the system which had so seared and hardened that man's heart, begotten in the lowest h.e.l.l?

The old preacher said no more, but four stout negro men stepped forward, nailed down the lids, and lowered the rough boxes into the ground.

Turning to Madam P----, I saw her face was red with weeping. She turned to go as the first earth fell, with a dull, heavy sound, on the rude coffins; and giving her my arm, I led her from the scene.

As we walked slowly back to the house, a low wail--half a chant, half a dirge--rose from the black crowd, and floated off on the still night air, till it died away amid the far woods, in a strange, unearthly moan.

With that sad, wild music in our ears, we entered the mansion.

As we seated ourselves by the bright wood-fire on the library hearth, obeying a sudden impulse which I could not restrain, I said to Madam P----:

"The Colonel's treatment of that poor woman is inexplicable to me. Why is he so hard with her? It is not in keeping with what I have seen of his character."

"The Colonel is a peculiar man," replied the lady. "n.o.ble, generous, and a true friend, he is also a bitter, implacable enemy. When he once conceives a dislike, his feelings become even vindictive. Never having had an ungratified wish, he does not know how to feel for the sorrows of those beneath him. Sam, though a proud, headstrong, unruly character, was a great favorite with him; he felt his death much; and as he attributes it to Jule, he feels terribly bitter toward her. She will have to be sold to get her out of his way, for he will _never_ forgive her."

It was some time before the Colonel joined us, and when at last he made his appearance, he seemed in no mood for conversation. The lady soon retired; but feeling unlike sleep, I took down a book from the shelves, drew my chair near the fire, and fell to reading. The Colonel, too, was deep in the newspapers, till, after a while, Jim entered the room:

"I'se c.u.m to ax ef you've nuffin more to-night, Cunnel?" said the negro.

"No, nothing, Jim," replied his master; "but, stay--hadn't you better sleep in front of Moye's door?"